News: Outpatient treatment helps reduce violent, suicidal behavior, study suggests

Clients who participated in court-ordered assisted outpatient treatments (AOT) displayed significant improvements across several outcome measures, according to a study recently published in Psychiatric Research and Clinical Practice.

As the study’s authors explained, AOT is “a programmatic intervention in mental health […] law that is designed to improve treatment participation and long‐term clinical outcomes for certain adults with serious mental illnesses.”

Services mandated by an AOT may include “outpatient pharmacotherapy with medication management, some form of intensive case management […] and, often, access to subsidized housing” enforced by a time‐limited civil court order.

For the study, researchers collected data from six sites between September 2017 and March 2021, including baseline and follow-up interviews with nearly 400 AOT participants regarding their clinical symptoms, criminal justice involvement, housing, medication and substance use, treatment history, and well-being.

Among AOT clients, researchers found violent behavior and suicidal ideation decreased by 19% and 24%, respectively. Arrests among clients also decreased by 19%, as did illicit drug use by more than 14%. They also found a 12% reduction in the proportion of clients experiencing homelessness in the six months following entry into AOT. Appointment and treatment adherence also increased among AOT clients (24% and 20%, respectively) in six‐ and 12‐month follow‐up windows.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in JustCoding. To read the full study, click here.